September Rylanisms

I picked Dude up from after school Science Camp today. As we walked out the teacher reminded him that he is to work on not making wolf sounds and actions next week. In the car I asked him about that behavior and he said, "MOM. I was NOT being a wolf at science camp. That is not true." I asked him why she said that and he replied with, "I was a being a Tiger Mom. That is very different than a wolf."  By all means let me set the teacher straight on that one.

On the way to our new therapy tonight, I explained to Dude that we're going there to help his ticks and to make the right side of his brain grow really strong.  We talked about how ginormously strong his left side is and that his right side needs to catch up.  He thought for a minute and said, "Well, my lego neurons must be on the left side then."  Oh how true that is buddy.  So many wonderful things are on the left side of your beautifully complex little brain.

Dude and I were talking about having friends over for dinner Friday night.  I was explaining who their kids were and said, "Bella is the little girl who is always playing with Marin."  He said, "Well Mom, that's not true.  Bella goes home to sleep so she's not ALWAYS with Marin."  And you're right.  Pardon my exaggeration.  

Dude recently read me a story about a little boy who refused to clean his room and bought a robot to do it so he wouldn't have his computer taken away. The boy steps on the remote, causing the robot to go crazy and makes an even bigger mess. The story doesn't end well for the little boy. I ask him what choice the boy should have made to avoid his punishment and he replies, "Well, first he should have gotten a robot with better buttons and he should have been more careful with that remote." My son is in the details. No big picture over here friends.

Dude gets off the bus yesterday saying, "Mom! Bob and Steve are DEAD. I hope they fainted, but probably they're dead." I stare at him with wide eyes, awaiting an explanation and he says, "Hello Mom. Bob and Steve are the class crickets and Steve was my favorite. That is my frustrating part of the day."

To the family next to us at Wahoos last night. "Hi, I'm Rylan and I'm 7. I'm in 2nd grade. We do NOT study about Jesus at my school but we do a WHOLE LOT of math. Math, math, math, blah, blah, blah." And there you have it random family.

I recently heard this in the next room..."Dear God, can you PLEASE make me Spiderman? That's all I need to do is wish right? And please make Mommy Superwoman. I'll ask for her."

"Mom, Grant (kid in his class) smokes."  "What????  What are you talking about?"  "He does Mom.  Like you know, he put a cigarette in his mouth and SMOKES it.  Mr. Olsen says he needs to stop."  I couldn't let this one go.  He seemed so sure.  I say, "Ok bud.  Let's talk about this more.  What was happening when Mr. Olsen said he needs to stop smoking?"  "Grant was doing his froggy voice like all low and Mr. Olsen says he always sounds like that so he better stop smoking those cigarettes.  He did NOT wink Mom, so he's telling the truth."  Oh my sweet literal son.  I did explain the joke and he no longer tells people about Grant's early set smoking habit.  

Digging

I try not to bring down the lightweight, comical and often sarcastic tone of this blog with the heavy stuff, but sometimes "heavy" is where you're at and that's okay.  Heavy is a part of life right?  The blog where I allow myself to verbally vomit the content of my heart and brain speaks to where our family is at.  Today.  If you haven't already tuned in, you can do so by clicking HERE. 

For the sake of adding some comic relief to this post, see below for our darling son's 2nd grade photo. My immediate reaction was, "When are re-takes?"  Then Tim and I decided that this speaks exactly to where he's at in this moment in time.  He's wearing his compression vest, which helps stabilize his sense of gravity, he successfully fluffed out his once spiked and super cool hair, he has zero teeth to be seen and he is Happy with a capital H.  Our Dude.  No re-takes needed.

Before I go back to work...

Monday's work D Day and I'm making no promises on the consistency of this blog for the near future.  A new life rhythm will be defined in the coming weeks and it might not be too pretty.  Or it might be magical. Never-the-less, blogging is going to take a back seat until flow resumes.  SO, below is a random conglomeration of life happenings as of late.  We've had an awesome August and September.  Tons of exciting stuff happening round here.  The notorious respiratory bug hasn't hit (yet), Dude's 2nd grade teacher is a blessing and a half, Tim is having lots of racing fun, our Texas friends have come to visit, Squirt is a little charmer at pre-school, God is blessing my new path in a ridiculous amount of ways, our front yard looks WAY prettier with the addition of new landscape and I'll stop there so you don't get squeamish.  We're good.

 Snooze with our Amy.  Can't think of a happier place for our stomachs on a Friday morning.  

 Dinner at our old neighbors and friends's house, the Jones.  The Sheas came too, which was perfect.  It was SO good to spend time with these lovelies.  It reminded us that we need to do it more often.  We celebrated Abigail's 10th birthday that night.  Crazy that we've known the brown haired beauty since she was four.

Today, Dude spent 5 hours acting as a "Zoologist for a day" at the Denver Aquarium.  I learned about this rad program in a magazine ad but didn't believe it to be true.  It was.  For $50, he spent 5 hours being lead behind the scenes at the aquarium and learned about how to care for the animals.  He groomed a tortoise and a porcupine and was able to feed otters and pet the sting rays. AND they provided lunch in their famous restaurant AND have him this t-shirt.  He said he ate underneath huge fish watching his pizza.  We'll definitely do it again for a different program they offer.  Check it out if you live in Colorado!  

 First day of preschool exhaustion. 

 I'm not a fan of creepy crawlies, but this was quite beautiful.  I allowed him to continue living. 

 Our precious baby Hayes was blessed at a special ceremony at our friend's house last weekend.  He might be the cutest, smiliest, most charming little lad I've ever laid eyes on.  Minus my son, of course.  We're so blessed to call this family "our people."

 Randy gifted us with 4 tickets to the Food and Wine Show downtown when Amy and Paul were in town.  We went, we drank, we ate, we drank, we ate and came home bloated and unmotivated to do much of anything the remainder of the day.  Good times, good eats and even better drinks.  

 Tim's most happy Dad day of his life.  Dude entered his very first go kart (the real deal go karting).  He was the only one on the track, he put on his butterfly wings and conquered his fear.  He zipped around the track with perfect precision and improved his lap time each time around the track.  Tim was beaming inside and out.  They can't wait to go back and do it again.  And again.  And again.

    

 Our little Tai Kwondo boy.  Oh does this sport fit him to a capital T.  It has been astonishing to watch his progression in the past 4 months of twice weekly classes.  His coordination has improved, his stamina, his ability to follow directions, his hustle, his toughness....and he's having a blast.  We're believers!

 Family bike ride to a local park and stream.  I do adore this place we call home.  

Sir Enzo was given one day of "freedom."  We allowed him out of his crate when we left the house and gave him free reign of the laundry room and bathroom.  This is what we came home to.  This image is just one of two exit doors he gnawed through.  Little punk.  Guess who's back in his crate when we exit the house?

No reason.  Just had to share.  And while we're on the subject....

These all came to life between the hour of 6:30am-7:30am last Sunday morning.  

From our chaos to yours, peace out.  

Soccering

It's come time for our little Squirt to engage in her first athletic oriented activity.  Based on our only experience with "soccer," we've positioned the bar quite low.  As you can see below, our little man set the stage for soccer in our family.  He DID enjoy himself, but not for any reasons have to do with the actual sport. After two seasons of signing him up merely for the entertainment value, we called it quits.  With no hesitation.

Squirt's turn.  Last week our family pathetically made our way across the field to the masses of little soccer playing people.  Dude was whining that we weren't going to the park, Tim and I were arguing about what field we were supposed to be walking toward, Enzo was pooping as we walked, and Squirt just wanted to have a snack.  Which we hadn't thought to bring.  We didn't even bring her water bottle.  Parents of the year right?  We did find the field, we did send Dude to a playground alone and we convinced Squirt that if she played soccer, we would give her as many treats as her stomach could hold when we got home.  That half worked.  She kicked her ball around during practice and held firmly to Tim's pant leg the entire game, only one pretty blue eye visible to onlookers. When Tim managed to pry her off, she would simply sit down and bury her face in her hands.  There were two significant episodes of over dramatic tears.  Valiant effort for week #1.   

Lucky for me, Tim has been out of town for a guy's racing weekend, so I was on my own for today, week #2.  This Mama refused to run on the field with her while she pulled my pants down for all to see, so we had a long hard talk about expectations for soccer.  And I might have purchased a sugary Starbucks pumpkin cookie as a continual bribe for the hour long adventure.  It worked like a frickin' charm.  My daughter ran up and down that field, she SCORED a goal from the mid line, she only clung to the coaches hand for 4 minutes, and all of that only required half of the pumpkin cookie as bribery.  She was a new woman out there.  All the kids were.  It helps that we have a great coach who makes them giggle.  I was very proud of our little soccer lady and will no longer dread the remainder of the season.  Below are reminders of week #1's antics.

 Started out with a bang.  I believe we're playing Peek-a-boo with our friend Brinley, who is also on our team.  Anders, the son of our new babysitter, is also soccering with us.  

 The ball made for a rather convenient seat when we felt the stubborn bug come upon us. 

 I caught her playing soccer!  It wasn't a consistent theme that week, but today was FULL of soccer playing.  

 We hadn't quite yet mastered the "no hands" rule.  It's a tough one.

 The two highlights of week #1.  Post game snack and playground time.  

 
We'll do an end of season recap when our amateur turns Mia Hamm.      

Until Next Year, Kings Point

Joining a local pool near Dude's school this summer definitely made our "highlights" list.  The goal was to have a low stress place to go as a family that didn't involve crowded locker rooms, impersonal sharing of chlorinated water with a ton of strangers and long walks to pee. We hoped to meet new friends for the kids and gain hang out time for adults.  Check, check and double check.  The kids had a blast, upped their swimming abilities, Tim and I met a slew of rad adult friends and grew closer with existing friends and Tim got some quality volleyball time in.  Not to mention we found a home for Miss Squirt for Mondays moving forward.  It was a choice well made.  On Labor Day we spent five hours shutting down the summer season:(  Sad, but we can't wait for next summer.  I was convinced (didn't take much) to become Vice President of the pool for the next year.  Margarita meetings with 3 cool chicks through the year added to the appeal.